|
Women of the Wall (Hebrew: נשות הכותל, ''Neshot HaKotel'') is a multi-denominational feminist〔: "The Women of the Wall believed themselves to be liberal feminists."〕 organization based in Israel whose goal is to secure the rights of women to pray at the Western Wall in a fashion that includes singing, reading aloud from the Torah and wearing religious garments (''tallit'', ''tefillin'' and ''kippah''). The Pew Forum has identified Israel as one of the countries that places "high" restrictions on religion, and there have been limits placed on non-Orthodox streams of Judaism.〔"U.S. Department of State: 2012 Report on International Religious Freedom: Israel and The Occupied Territories (May 20, 2013)"http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2012/nea/208392.htm〕 One of those restrictions is that the Rabbi of the Western Wall has enforced gender segregation and limitations on religious garb worn by women. When the "Women of the Wall" hold monthly prayer services for women on Rosh Hodesh, they observe gender segregation so that Orthodox members may fully participate. But their use of religious garb, singing and reading from a Torah have upset some members of the Orthodox Jewish community, sparking protests and arrests. In May 2013 a judge ruled that a 2003 Israeli Supreme Court ruling prohibiting women from carrying a Torah or wearing prayer shawls had been misinterpreted and that Women of the Wall prayer gatherings at the wall should not be deemed illegal.〔 According to Ronit Kampf, the group's struggle has been "the most covered women's issue in the history of the Israeli media." ==Summary== From the start, Women of the Wall included Orthodox members and opted to run their service according to "Orthodox standards." Nevertheless, some Orthodox were offended, including some who call themselves Orthodox feminists.〔: "A third reason for choosing Orthodox services was out awareness that if we did not adopt Orthodox standards, Orthodox women would not attend our services or, in all likelihood, support our struggle. Non-Orthodox women who have been involved in the Kotel struggle have been most generous in allowing Orthodox practice to prevail, and our services at the Kotel as well as the solidarity services we sponsored elsewhere therefore have been conducted in accordance with Orthodox standards. Despite this many Orthodox women, even those who were active in women's ''tefillah'' groups and leaders of Orthodox feminism, remained reticent and ambivalent about our struggle to pray at the Kotel, and Orthodox rabbis, even those who permitted women's ''tefillah'' their synagogues, did not support our right to pray in an identical fashion at the Kotel.〕〔: "The movement, which is controversial, even among Orthodox feminists, myself included..."〕 Although Women of the Wall is a multi-denominational group, including not only Reform, but Conservative and Orthodox members, it has been viewed by some Israelis as a Reform organisation.〔: "The Israeli Hebrew language newspapers have yet to call us anything but, ''Reformiot'', signifying their refusal to acknowledge that there may be alternatives to the Orthodoxy they reject."〕〔: "They have been labeled provocateurs by the mayor of Jerusalem and written off as agents of the Reform movement by the Hebrew press."〕〔: "The Women of the Wall, portrayed by the Israeli media as foreign, American Reform Jews, lack the social resources to force the employment of their own notions of their group as women rather than Woman."〕〔: "Secular newspaper reporters and editors and other Israeli public figures have also had their say, which has not been consistently sympathetic to the Women of the Wall, who are seen as American "Reform" interlopers trying to appropriate a state symbol of national (not only religious) identity."〕〔: "WoW has had the image of American Reform Jews, because in Israel not only the Ultra-Orthodox but also many secular Jews look upon Reform Judaism as a brand of secularism."〕〔: "למרות האידיאולוגיה המשותפת שלהן וההכלה של כל הזרמים בתוך הקבוצה, הן הוצגו בעקיבות כ״אמריקניות רפורמיות״."〕〔: "The WOW typically are considered outside of the religious fold because most Israelis believe they are Reform women, not Orthodox of any kind. The Reform and Conservative movements in Israel, however, are considered completely outside of Judaism to the point of being heretics."〕〔: "In many of their interviews, the Women of the Wall opted for a line of rhetoric — "we come from all streams of Judaism" — that was meaningless to Israeli society because in Israel religious pluralism is not seen as a cultural value. In fact, they continue to be seen as "Reform," an American invention."〕〔: "Although Women of the Wall is widely associated with the Reform movement, it is very much based on an Orthodox model, says Elana Sztokman, the executive director of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, an international organization based in New York."〕 Since 1988, the group has faced a legal battle for recognition of their right to pray at the Western Wall. Their presence is deemed offensive by Orthodox worshippers at the site and there have been numerous court proceedings to settle the issue. On the Fast of Esther 1989, ultra-Orthodox men, outraged by the women's singing, hurled chairs and verbal insults at the women, which resulted in the deployment of tear gas to quell the violence. In 2010, police arrested two Haredi men at the Western Wall plaza on suspicion that they threw chairs at a Women of the Wall group that was praying aloud at the site.〔2010 Human Rights Report: Israel and the occupied territories. U.S. Department of state. This article incorporates public domain material from this source.〕 In 2009, the first woman was arrested for praying with a ''tallit''. The struggle by the Women of the Wall is seen by the Israeli Orthodox religious establishment as an attempt to undermine their influence in an effort to introduce religious pluralism. Opposition from the Orthodox also stems from Halachic concerns and from a general disdain for non-traditional ritual in an area they claim serves as an Orthodox synagogue. Orthodoxy does not permit women to constitute a ''minyan'' (prayer quorum) and while the women have not considered themselves as doing so, this has not calmed ultra-Orthodox sensibilities.〔: "Known as "the Women of the Wall," these women, out of deference to the group's Orthodox members, have used traditional liturgical texts and have not considered themselves to be a ''minyan''. Halakhically, at least as understood by Orthodoxy, women cannot constitute or count as members of a prayer quorum. Nonetheless, they have become the target of great opposition and occasional violence from ultra Orthodox Jews. () Women of the Wall continue to face opposition from ultra Orthodox Jews who are against women's prayer groups in general.〕〔: "The Women of the Wall organization represents a group of observant Jewish women who pray together in a ''minyan'' - a religious quorum traditionally reserved for men. This form of collective worship is not acceptable to ultra-Orthodox Jews when practiced by women."〕 Initially, the group did not receive support from Israel's primarily Orthodox religious authorities.〔: "But, at the kotel, where tradition trumps individual choice, the guidelines have not changed because they are not only a matter of acknowledging the desires of this group, which itself would radically alter Jewish tradition, but because the group lacks the support of any major religious authority. At the same time, acceding to their requests might also mean giving parity to non-Orthodox denominations."〕 Supporters highlighted the fact that only in Israel are Jewish women prohibited from praying according to their custom in a public location〔: "Supporters of the Women of the Wall note the irony that "only in Israel, and at the site most holy to Jews...are Jewish women prohibited from praying aloud in a group with a Torah."〕 and a 2003 High Court ruling which prevented them from conducting prayer services at the wall〔: "In 2003, the Women of the Wall, a group of more than 100 Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform women, lost their 14-year legal battle to hold formal women's prayer services at the Western Wall. The High Court ruled that the group could not hold prayer services at the Western Wall and instead would be permitted to hold them at nearby Robinson's Arch."〕 was overturned in 2013. Recently, some Orthodox feminist organisations have voiced support for their right to pray at the Kotel.〔 Women of the Wall are the only Jewish group in which traditional and liberal women join together for prayer.〔: "The Women of the Wall is unique in bringing traditional and liberal Jewish women together in prayer."〕 The organisation was created by Jewish women, including some from the diaspora.〔: "Initiated in 1988 by North American women, the Women of the Wall have been trying to pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem with Torah reading as the women's tefillah (prayer) groups do in America."〕〔: "The story of the Women of the Wall began on December 2, 1988, when a group of approximately 100 women participants in the First International Jewish Feminist Conference in Jerusalem held a prayer service at the Western Wall. American-born women for the most part, they were accustomed to the more egalitarian religious practises that characterize American Judaism."〕 and a significant number of participants are American immigrants or part of the English-speaking community.〔: "The Israeli women, most of whom were American-born, pledged to return to the Wall on the first day of each month in order to carry out a prayer service."〕〔: "It is not surprising that a disproportionate number of the Women of the Wall are, like Ner-David, American immigrants, or part of the larger native English-speaking Israeli community."〕〔: "While noted in Israel, these incidents receive far more attention in the United States. The main reason for the publicity is that the worshipers drawing ire are disproportionately American."〕〔: "Women of the Wall, organized to literally and metaphorically break down the barriers to women's prayer at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. Most of the initiators and participants in these activities have been immigrants from English-speaking countries."〕 This in is part due to the differing social conditions of Orthodox women in the United States and Israel respectively.〔: "By and larger, Israeli Orthodox women focus their religious life domestically. The growing difference between the roles of women in Western and Israeli Orthodoxy is in part due to social conditions. Whereas in the United States, for example, the push toward increasing female participation in religious services is primarily driven by highly educated, professional women who experience a gap between their high-status place in the secular world and their confinement behind the mechitza in the synagogue, the achievement of higher education and high-status jobs by Orthodox women in Israel is far rarer."〕 Shmuel Rosner describes the phenomena as an "American-imported battle" for religious pluralism, religious moderation and tolerance. He notes that civil rights and feminism are American imports, late in coming to Israel.〔(Renee Ghert-Zand). (Where ‘rock star’ Anat Hoffman turns raging feminist ), ''Times of Israel'',(April 20, 2013). ""The whole battle for the Western Wall is an Americanized and American-imported battle for religious moderation and tolerance," explains Shmuel Rosner, senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute and L.A. Jewish Journal columnist. "Women wearing a tallit is not something Israelis are used to. They don't necessarily have negative feelings about it, but it’s just strange and feels like it doesn’t belong here."" and "Many Israelis dismiss Women of the Wall as foreign interlopers, "but there is something to be said about Women of the Wall appearing non-native," Sztokman offers. "Civil rights and feminism are American imports — and late in coming. But now these things are being adapted to the local context."〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Women of the Wall」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|